World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Environmental Sciences
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
121
Citations
48036
World Ranking
120
National Ranking
54

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 1992 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Overview

Owen B. Toon is affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Environmental Science, with a concentrated emphasis on Atmospheric Science and Global and Planetary Change.

The scientist's frequent publication venues include Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Communications Earth & Environment.

Main topics of Owen B. Toon's work encompass Atmospheric Ozone and Climate, Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols, Nuclear Issues and Defense, Atmospheric Aerosols and Clouds, Radioactive Contamination and Transfer, Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics, and Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies.

Frequent co-authors collaborating with Owen B. Toon include Charles Bardeen, Alan Robock, Yunqian Zhu, Pengfei Yu, and Karen H. Rosenlof.

Some of their recent papers are:

  • Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection, 2022, Nature Food
  • Persistent Stratospheric Warming Due to 2019-2020 Australian Wildfire Smoke, 2021, Geophysical Research Letters
  • A regional nuclear conflict would compromise global food security, 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • On the stratospheric chemistry of midlatitude wildfire smoke, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Perturbations in stratospheric aerosol evolution due to the water-rich plume of the 2022 Hunga-Tonga eruption, 2022, Communications Earth & Environment

Owen B. Toon has been recognized as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) since 1992.

Best Publications

  • Reduction of Tropical Cloudiness by Soot

    A. S. Ackerman;O. B. Toon;D. E. Stevens;A. J. Heymsfield

  • Nuclear Winter: Global Consequences of Multiple Nuclear Explosions

    R. P. Turco;O. B. Toon;T. P. Ackerman;J. B. Pollack

  • Incorporation of mineralogical composition into models of the radiative properties of mineral aerosol from UV to IR wavelengths

    Irina N. Sokolik;Owen B. Toon

  • Rapid calculation of radiative heating rates and photodissociation rates in inhomogeneous multiple scattering atmospheres

    Owen B. Toon;C. P. McKay;T. P. Ackerman;K. Santhanam

  • Direct radiative forcing by anthropogenic airborne mineral aerosols

    Irina N. Sokolik;Owen B. Toon

  • The Impact of humidity above stratiform clouds on indirect aerosol climate forcing

    Andrew S. Ackerman;Michael P. Kirkpatrick;David E. Stevens;Owen B. Toon

  • Smoke and Dust Particles of Meteoric Origin in the Mesosphere and Stratosphere

    Donald M. Hunten;Richard P. Turco;Owen B. Toon

  • Condensation of HNO3 and HCl in the winter polar stratospheres

    Owen B. Toon;Patrick Hamill;Richard P. Turco;Joseph Pinto

  • Algorithms for the calculation of scattering by stratified spheres

    Owen B. Toon;T. P. Ackerman

  • Environmental Perturbations Caused by the Impacts of Asteroids and Comets

    Owen B. Toon;Kevin Zahnle;David Morrison;Richard P. Turco

  • Absorption of visible radiation in atmosphere containing mixtures of absorbing and nonabsorbing particles

    Thomas P. Ackerman;Owen B. Toon

  • A hydrogen-rich early Earth atmosphere

    Feng Tian;Owen B. Toon;Alexander A. Pavlov;H. De Sterck

  • A multidimensional model for aerosols - Description of computational analogs

    O. B. Toon;R. P. Turco;D. Westphal;R. Malone

  • TRANSONIC HYDRODYNAMIC ESCAPE OF HYDROGEN FROM EXTRASOLAR PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES

    Feng Tian;Owen B. Toon;Alexander A. Pavlov;H. De Sterck

  • Physical properties of the particles composing the Martian dust storm of 1971–1972

    Owen B. Toon;James B. Pollack;Carl Sagan

  • The optical constants of several atmospheric aerosol species: Ammonium sulfate, aluminum oxide, and sodium chloride

    Owen B. Toon;James B. Pollack;Bishun N. Khare

  • Optical properties of some terrestrial rocks and glasses.

    James B. Pollack;Owen B. Toon;Bishun N. Khare

  • The astronomical theory of climatic change on Mars

    Owen B. Toon;James B. Pollack;William Ward;Joseph A. Burns

  • Volcanic explosions and climatic change: A theoretical assessment

    James B. Pollack;Owen B. Toon;Carl Sagan;Audrey Summers

  • Stratospheric aerosols: Observation and theory

    R. P. Turco;R. C. Whitten;O. B. Toon

  • Reduction of Tropical Cloudiness by Soot

    A. S. Ackerman;O. B. Toon;D. E. Stevens;A. J. Heymsfield

Frequent Co-Authors

James B. Pollack
James B. Pollack Ames Research Center
Margaret A. Tolbert
Margaret A. Tolbert University of Colorado Boulder
Richard P. Turco
Richard P. Turco University of California, Los Angeles
Alan Robock
Alan Robock Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Michael J. Mills
Michael J. Mills National Center for Atmospheric Research
Christopher P. McKay
Christopher P. McKay Ames Research Center
Eric J. Jensen
Eric J. Jensen Ames Research Center
Robert C. Whitten
Robert C. Whitten Ames Research Center
Azadeh Tabazadeh
Azadeh Tabazadeh Independent Scientist / Consultant, US
Andrew S. Ackerman
Andrew S. Ackerman Goddard Institute for Space Studies

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